


evermore

by Nochi



Series: It Wasn't My Idea [2]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Multi, Post-Campaign 1, campaign 1 spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-09-01 04:44:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16758181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nochi/pseuds/Nochi
Summary: "I don't know what he got himself into, but I know he's...." A pause, a sharp breath. "Gone," he said finally. His eyes met Keyleth's. "And I know he went out a hero."





	evermore

"I can't go in there." Keyleth was frozen about twenty steps from the door to Gilmore's Glorious Goods, the franchise location he'd opened in Whitestone. They did a steady business in undead protection, apparently. 

Vex'ahlia looked back at her, only a few paces ahead, compassion written across her face. "Come on, darling. I know it's hard, but I'm with you."

"I took Vax from him," Keyleth whispered, almost too quietly for Vex herself to hear it. It hadn't been long since the Raven Queen had completed her bargain with her champion, and his name was still hard to say out loud sometimes. Keyleth, similarly, was still dealing with the loss, and her hard-fought self-confidence had slipped several notches in the face of her grief. "They'd have been happy together if not..." Vex quickly closed the distance between them, taking Keyleth's face in her hands. 

"Listen to me," she said quietly. "No one thinks that. Least of all Gilmore." A pause. "He deserves to know." 

Keyleth nodded, eyes screwed shut. "I know." 

"You've done scarier things than this."

A weak laugh. "I might argue that point." 

But after a moment and a few deep breaths Keyleth unglued her feet from the cobblestones and they entered the little shop. 

It wasn't much different from the shop in Emon, which was still being rebuilt. Sherri was even behind the counter, looking up in surprise and smiling at them when she realized who had entered. 

"Hail the conquering heroes," she said, a little teasing half-smile on her face. "I assume you want to speak with Shaun?"

Keyleth opened her mouth to answer, found no words would come, and settled for just nodding. Sherri nodded in reply, pushing away from the counter. 

"He's had a rough morning," she told them quietly, as she approached a curtain in the back. "Something happened last night, apparently, though he won't tell me what." 

Keyleth and Vex shared a confused look as Sherri disappeared behind the curtain, a hand reappearing a moment later to wave them on. Vex took Keyleth's hand in her own as they made their way back.

The back of the shop was dimly lit, mostly by glowing objects around the room. Shaun Gilmore sat at a table in the center, the wood heavily stained in various places. A worktable, presumably, currently acting as a tea table for the very weary-looking Gilmore. 

He looked up as they entered, attempting his usual broad smile and only managing a shadow of it. "My favorite ladies," he said kindly.

"Hello, Shaun," Vex said quietly. She and Keyleth took their own seats around the table, in chairs Vex was fairly certain hadn't always been there. 

"I heard," he said quietly, and Keyleth's heart lodged itself in her throat. "About the final fight. Good work." 

"How have you been?" Keyleth asked quietly. "Since...everything?"

"We got everyone out," Gilmore said simply. "Chewed our fingernails off for a few hours. Lots of bad wine." Another wan smile. "But you did it. You saved us all." 

Keyleth's eyes were on her hands, clasped tightly in her lap. "About that," she said, and Vex laid a hand on her arm, a warm presence steadying her. "Shaun...Vax...he..."

"I know." It was quiet, and a little choked, and when Keyleth looked up Gilmore's eyes were glued to his tea cup. "I know." 

"...how?" That was Vex, sounding as startled as Keyleth felt. 

Gilmore pulled on a chain around his neck, drawing up a charm from under his shirt. Jet-black and shining in the dim light of the room, a single feather at the end of a silver chain. Keyleth and Vex's breath caught simultaneously. 

"This was on my window sill this morning," he said. "Along with a single raven feather. Much like the ones on that cloak he'd taken to wearing." He touched his long hair, and Vex saw the feather braided into it. "I know there's magic on this," and he touched the charm again. "But I can't tell a damned thing about it. So I'm assuming it's divine." He shook his head, smiling sadly. "I don't know what he got himself into, but I know he's...." A pause, a sharp breath. "Gone," he said finally. His eyes met Keyleth's. "And I know he went out a hero." 

Keyleth finally broke then, clapping her hands over her face to hide the sudden burst of tears. "I'm so sorry," she managed to get out, and a moment later she felt Gilmore's arms around her. 

"I don't blame you," he murmured into her hair. "I should have said it ages ago. I don't blame you."

Vex slipped quietly back through the curtain as they sat there, grieving together. 

She started writing letters, asking if anyone else had gotten such a pendant. True, it seemed very much her brother's aesthetic (and penchant for the dramatic), but she would rather be sure than trust in random magical jewelry that even Shaun couldn't comprehend. 

Taryon didn't have one. Cassandra did. Even Velora, whom she hadn't even thought to ask, but who had written a very excited letter about the present her big brother had left her. 

Kima and Allura each had their own. Kaylie did, too. Kynan, who'd nervously asked Percy about it one day. It seemed everyone whose lives they'd touched, for better or worse, had found a pendant and a raven feather the morning after Vax's departure. 

It took some persuading, but Gilmore eventually allowed Pike to investigate it, who still couldn't tell anything about it. "Whatever it's made of," she said, frowning at it, "I can't touch. And I don't know if that should worry me or not."

It finally took Scanlan praying to ("badgering", as he put it) Ioun, asking for the knowledge to detect a potential threat to innocent lives, before their purpose was revealed, Ioun speaking directly through Scanlan. It was a boon, given by the Champion of the Raven Queen, that death would not find the wearer before their time. When that time was, of course, remained a mystery. But lives that were not directly entangled with the thread of fate Vax had spun around himself would be protected. 

"But..." Vex frowned. "None of us got one. Don't look at me like that, that's not what I meant!" She aimed a finger at Scanlan, who, divine intermediary or not, was indeed giving her a look. "If someone was going to target the people around us, pretending to be Vax's spirit or whatever would be a good way to do it, was all I meant." She crossed her arms, huffing a little. 

"Vax'ildan's thread of fate still twines around you all," Ioun said, with Scanlan's voice. "His boon is given to you directly, with no need for channeling devices. Even in death, he is very much a part of your lives."

"That's a metaphor for something," Percy muttered, hugging Vex with one arm as tears welled up in her eyes.

"Idiot," she muttered. "Can't even die without being a drama queen." She leaned her head against Percy, hiding her tears in his shirt.

"Honestly," Keyleth said, her own voice thick with tears, as she looked down at the charm still held in her hands. "I don't know what any of us expected."

**Author's Note:**

> I was so upset that Vax didn't get to say ALL his goodbyes; he was one of those "I have just met you and I love you" types that deserved a farewell tour. Think the 10th Doctor's last episode. Therefore, "fixit" fic that might actually have hurt me worse than the canon finale.


End file.
